Man who killed, ate mother gets death penalty

The Bombay high court on Tuesday confirmed the death penalty imposed by a Kolhapur court on a man for killing his mother in 2017 and allegedly eating some of the body parts, noting this was a case of cannibalism.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan said it was confirming the death penalty on the convict -- Sunil Kuchkoravi -- and added there was no chance of his reformation.

The bench said this was a case of cannibalism and it falls under the rarest of rare category.

"The case falls under the rarest of rare category. The convict not only murdered his mother but he also removed her body parts - brain, heart, liver, kidney, intestine and was cooking them on a pan," the HC said.

"He had cooked her ribs and was about to cook her heart. This is a case of cannibalism," it said.

There is no chance of reformation of the convict as there are tendencies of cannibalism, the high court observed.

"If given life imprisonment, he may commit a similar crime in jail," the bench said.

Kuchkoravi was informed of the decision via video conference.

According to the prosecution, Sunil Kuchkoravi gruesomely murdered his 63-year-old mother Yallama Rama Kuchkoravi on August 28, 2017, at their residence in Kolhapur city.

He later chopped the body and ate some organs after frying them in a pan.

The prosecution claimed the deceased had refused to give money to the accused to buy liquor.

Sunil Kuchkoravi was sentenced to death by a Kolhapur court in 2021. He is lodged at the Yerwada prison (Pune).

The sessions court had at the time said the case falls under the "rarest of rare" category and that the gruesome murder shook the social conscience of the society.

The convict filed an appeal challenging his conviction and death penalty.